forest bathing

From forest bathing to urban parks: How nature helps protect our well-being during a pandemic

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St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, cour­tesy of Aerial.ie

Liv­ing through the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has had a severe impact on people’s men­tal health and well-being. Restrict­ed move­ment, loss, and iso­la­tion have led to increas­es in depres­sion, anx­i­ety dis­or­ders, stress, sleep dis­or­ders, and more. The effects have been even harsh­er for teens.

How can we help pro­tect our well-being dur­ing this par­tic­u­lar­ly dif­fi­cult time? Though a pub­lic health response is def­i­nite­ly called for, one way we might try to help our­selves this year is spend­ing more time immersed in nature. In the last decade or so, research on the health ben­e­fits of nature expe­ri­ences has explod­ed, con­firm­ing what many peo­ple know intuitively—that green spaces are good for men­tal well-being, whether you’re walk­ing out­doors, look­ing at beau­ti­ful views, or even just see­ing videos of nature. [Read more…] about From for­est bathing to urban parks: How nature helps pro­tect our well-being dur­ing a pandemic

On neuroplasticity, psychedelics, forest bathing, drinking, sleep and more: The Month in Review

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Dear read­er,

It’s time for Sharp­Brains month­ly e‑newsletter explor­ing the lat­est think­ing, sci­ence and tools for life­long brain health and men­tal well-being.

Enjoy!

New research:

New thinking:

New tools:

 

Have a great month of Sep­tem­ber, and please take a moment to share this e‑newsletter with some­one who may enjoy it 🙂

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

New book on how “Forest Bathing” can promote physical and mental health

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– The Kumano Kodo trail in Japan

“Nature deficit dis­or­der” is a mod­ern afflic­tion. With more peo­ple liv­ing in cities, work­ing in high-rise office build­ings, and becom­ing addict­ed to their innu­mer­able elec­tron­ic devices, many of us are indeed expe­ri­enc­ing a nature deficit. This is true for chil­dren and adults alike.

In his new book, For­est Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Hap­pi­ness, Japan­ese med­ical doc­tor and researcher Qing Li presents some sober­ing sta­tis­tics: By 2050, accord­ing to the Unit­ed Nations Pop­u­la­tion Divi­sion, three quar­ters of the world’s peo­ple will live in cities. Even now, the aver­age Amer­i­can spends 93 per­cent of the time indoors, and [Read more…] about New book on how “For­est Bathing” can pro­mote phys­i­cal and men­tal health